Offset printing blanket



Jan. 27, 1942. E- JUVE 2,271,125

OFFSET PRINTING BLANKET Filed Aug. 5, 1940 Bore of Pre- 55mm/f /far/'c lets.

^ diene and acrylonitrile, as is shown in the accom- Paiemed Jan. 27, 1942 UNITED STATESl `PATEN'I OFFICE f 2.271.125 i or-'Fsa'r PRINTING BLANKET Arthur E. Juva Akron, Ohio, assignor to B. F. Goodrich Company, New York, N. Y., a

corporation of New York h Application August 3, 1940, Serial No. 351,175

4Claims.

This invention relates to offset printing blankets, and has as its chief object to provide forcing pigments such as carbon black, blanc xe. fine clay, reinforcing calcium carbonate, etc., should be incorporated in the composition. It is ,also conducive to low-set vulcanizates to use relaunder the action lof the/ink and also becomes tender which allows the repeated impacts on the blanket to form permanent depressions. These undesirable embssings and engraving effects soon render the blanket useless for mst-class printing.

It has been p oposed to make offset printing blankets out of prious types of synthetic rubber .whichare more resistant to the action of printing inks than is natural rubber. It has been found, however, lthat many types of oil-resisting synthetic rubber are not readily wetby the printing inks. Instead of spreading over the synthetic surfaces in a thin uniform film, the printing inks have a tendency to form in small drop- I have now discovered a new structure for offset printing blankets which avoids the difficulties pos-- sessed by the structures of the prior Aart. *Broad-` ly, this new 'offset blanket comprises a pre-shrunk tively high proportions of sulphur, such as 3 or more parts per 100 parts of rubber, and to use an active accelerator so that a rather rapid cure will be obtained. These principles are -well understood by those skilled in the art of compounding rubber, and these or any otherA methods of obtaining a low-set rubber body may be employed. 'I'he surface of the oifset printing blanket is composed of a thin layer of a vulcanized mixture of rubber and a copolymer of butadiene and acrylonitrile adhered to the low-set rubber body.

Coliolymers of butadiene and acrylonitrile are known vsynthetic rubbers which may be prepared bycopolymerizing butadiene and acrylonitrile in a large range of proportions. the mostuseful copolymers being formed from mixtures ranging in composition from about 80 parts of butadiene and 20 parts of acrylonitrile to equal parts of butadieneand acrylonitrile, the amounts of ingredients throughout the specifications andA claims being measured by weight. Specific preferred copolymers within this range include those formed by copolymerizing mixtures of about 'l5 A parts of butadiene and parts of acrylonitrile,

fabric base, a layer of low-set rubber, :forming` the main body of the blanket, and a surface klayer of a mixture of rubber and a copolymer of butapanying drawing.

The fabric for the base is of the usual pre-l shrunk ty'pe which forms a'substantially non-deformable underlayer on whichv to build the stretchable surface. Although only oneA ply of fabric need be employed, it is preferable to em-- ploy two or three plies of pre-shrunk fabricas the base.

The next layer, which ordinarily constitutes the major portion of the blanket, is a low-set composition made of soft, vulcanized natural rubber, the term soft being employed to differentiate the composition employed from hard 65' parts ofbutadiene and 35 parts of acrylonitrile, and parts of butadiene and 45 parts of acrylonitrile.

The -proportions in which the rubber and copolymer are combined to form a suitable material for making offset printing blankets depends upon several factors including the Particular copolymer employed andthe nature of the printing inks. In general,y it may be stated that the higher .the proportions of acrylonitrile present in the mixture from which the copolymer is prepared,

` printing' inks, mixtures containing between 20 rubber, and not to indicate that the compositions are any softer than ordinaryvulcanizates. Compositions which may be regarded as havingv a lowv set within the meaning of the term as herein employed exhibit agset of not more than about 10% when testedfor compression set by thev constant 'load method, which is described as method A of Tentative methods of -tests for compression set ofvvulcanizd rubber, A. S.v T. M. designation D395-5i'ZT.V To obtain such .low-set rubber compositions, such as from 20-50 or more parts by weight -per 100 parts of rubber, of llers, especially reinand 30 parts ,of rubber and between 80`and 'I0 'parts of a copolymer of a mixture of 75 parts of v l proportion of copolymer is further increased, the

advantage of increased oil-resistance is oset by theimpairment of the wetting properties of the substantial proportions,v v

composition.

' When a copolymer made from a mixture of 55 parts of'butadiene and 45 parts of acrylonitrile is employed,` considerably higher proportions of 'rubber may be employed.` 'Ihus a mixture of roughly equal parts of rubber and of this copolymer has about the same'resistance to printing inks as the compositions containing about 30 parts oi' rubber and 70 parts of 'I5-25 copolymer mentioned above. i

It will be noted that the acrylonitrile constituf ent of the copolymer makes up approximately one-fifth of the mixture of rubber and copolymer in each of the cases just referred to.

In manufacturing th'e offset printing blankets of this invention, the pre-shrunk fabric base is first prepared. If a plurality of plies are employed, -they are adhered together with any suitable adhesive such as a vulcanizable rubber cement.

A layer of a rubber composition which may be cured to form low-set vulcanized rubber is Athen formed upon this fabric. A specific suitable composition contains the following ingredients:

Parts by weight Rubber 100 Sulfur 3. Accelerator l Carbon. black..` 20 Zinc oxide 5 Lauric acid 1.5

Parts by weight Rubber 30 Perbunan* '70 Sulfur 2 Accelerator 1.5 Carbon black 5o Zincf oxide 5 Laurie acid 1.5 Softener for the Perbunan 30 *A commercially-available be a copolymer of approximately 75 parts of butadiene and 25 parts of acrylonitrile.

In place oi' the rubber-Perbunan mixture employed above, 47 parts of rubber and 53 parts of a copolymer of a mixture of 55 parts of butadiene and 45 parts of acrylonitrile may be employed with equivalent results. The accelerator may be of the thiazole type, and any of the well known softeners for the copolymer such as butyl acetyl ricinioleate, dibutyl phthalate, dibenzyl ether, triphenyl phosphate, etc., may be employed.

It is essential that the surface layer of a mixture of rubber and copolymer adhere to the underlying layer of low-set rubber in the nished article. This may be accomplished by employing intermediate layers consisting of mixtures of the low-set rubber composition and the rubber-copolymer composition. Thus, the next coat spread on the low-set rubber 'may contain one-third of the rubber-copolymer composition and twothirds of low-set rubber, the next coat may contain two-thirds of the rubber-copolymer comsynthetic rubber believed to coat of pure rubber-copolymer may be applied last. By varying the number of intermediate layers and the composition oi' the cements, satisfactory adhesion between any of the low-set rubing thesurface of the rubber, may be employedv if desired.

'Ihe mixture oi' rubber and copolymer need be f' present on the 'surface of the blanket in only a very thin coat such as one .002-.003 inch thick. The use of a thin layer only a few thousandths of an inch thick permits the blanket to possess the'excellent mechanical properties of the lowset rubber underlayer, but still to resist printing i inks much betterA than natural rubber.

position and one-third of low-set rubber, and a v After the blanket is constructed as described it is vulcanized. Although the preferred method oi.' vulcanization is to cure the blanket in live steam, other methods may be employed if desired.

Although I have described a particular manner of making the offset printing blankets of this invention, similar blankets made by other methods which will occur to those skilled in the art are within the scope of the invention. It is also within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims to make modil ilcations such as substituting equivalent materials and lvarying the proportions of materials used.

I claim: 1

l. An offset printing blanket comprising a. lowset rubber body adhered on one side to a preshrunk fabric base and on the other side to a thin layer of a vulcanized mixture of rubber and a copolymer of butadiene and acrylonitrile, the copolymer being made by combining butadiene with not more than-its weight of acrylonitrile, and the proportions .of rubber and copolymer in the vulcanized mixture being such that the acrylonitrile constituent of the copolymer makes up approximately one-fifth of the mixture of rubber and copolymer.

2. An offset printing blanket comprising a lowset rubber body adhered on one side to a preshrunk fabric base and on the opposite side to a thin layer of a vulcanized mixture of rubber and a copolymer of a mixture of about parts of butadiene and 25 parts oi' acrylonitrile,-the plastic ingredients in said thin layer consisting of not more than 50% of rubber and not less than 50% of copolymer.

3. An offset printing blanket comprising a lowset rubber body adhered on one side to a preshrunk fabric base and on the opposite side to a thin layer of a vulcanized mixture of rubber and a copolymer of a mixture of about 75 parts of butadiene and 25 parts of acrylonitrile, the plastic ingredients in said thin layer consisting of from 20-30% of rubber and from Sil-70% copolymer.

4. Anoffset printing blanket comprising a lowset rubber body adhered on one side to a preshrunk fabric base and on the opposite side to a thin layer of a vulcanized mixture of 'rubber andequal proportions. l

AR'I'HUR. E. JUVE. 

